TY - JOUR
AU - Falcao,Bruno L. S.
AU - Soares,Rodrigo R.
TI - The Demographic Transition and the Sexual Division of Labor
JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL - No. 12838
PY - 2007
Y2 - January 2007
DO - 10.3386/w12838
UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12838
L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12838.pdf
N1 - Author contact info:
Bruno L. S. Falcao
Department of Economics
Yale University
New Haven CT 06520-8264
E-Mail: bruno.falcao@yale.edu
Rodrigo R. Soares
Columbia University
School of International and Public Affairs
420 W 118th St
Mail Code: 3323
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 212-854-8825
E-Mail: r.soares@columbia.edu
AB - This paper presents a theory where increases in female labor force participation and reductions in the gender wage-gap are generated as part of a single process of demographic transition, characterized by reductions in mortality and fertility. The paper suggests a link between changes in mortality and transformations in the role of women in society that has not been identified before in the literature. Mortality reductions affect the incentives of individuals to invest in human capital and to have children. Particularly, gains in adult longevity reduce fertility, increase investments in market human capital, increase female labor force participation, and reduce the wage differential between men and women. Child mortality reductions, though reducing fertility, do not generate this same pattern of changes. The model reconciles the increase in female labor market participation with the timing of age-specific mortality reductions observed during the demographic transition. It generates changes in fertility, labor market attachment, and the gender wage-gap as part of a single process of social transformation, triggered by reductions in mortality.
ER -